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Results FRom the Field
IFAD Results Series Issue 2
IFAD Results Series Issue 2
The purpose of the Results Series is to document in a succinct manner the results and
lessons emerging from IFAD-funded projects and programmes, and make them easily
accessible to policy and decision makers, development practitioners, researchers and
others. The series is a means to ensure that IFAD’s extensive experience may inform
the design and implementation of policies and operations in the agriculture and rural
sectors, now and in the future.
For further information about the Results Series, contact Helen Gillman, Senior
Knowledge Management Officer, Global Engagement, Knowledge and Strategy Division,
Acknowledgements
The IFAD Results Series is prepared under the supervision of Ashwani K. Muthoo,
Director of the Global Engagement, Knowledge and Strategy Division (GKS). Helen
Gillman, Senior Knowledge Management Officer, GKS, manages the preparation of the
series. Written contributions for this edition have been provided by Anja Lesa, Ama
Brandford-Arthur, Davinia Hoggarth and Maurizio Navarra.
The inputs and feedback of IFAD regional economists, portfolio advisers and knowledge
management officers in the Programme Management Department are deeply appreciated,
in particular in the selection of the projects featured in this second edition of the series.
Invaluable inputs and timely feedback were provided on draft sections by several IFAD
colleagues, including Bashu Aryal, Frew Behabtu, Ndaya Beltchika, Claire Bilski, Ulaç
Demirag, Ilaria Firmian, Beatrice Gerli, Steven Jonckheere, Mariatu Kamara, Prashanth
Kotturi, Annabelle Lhommeau, Laure Martin, Wietse Michiels, Lakshmi Moola, Thokozile
Newman, Jesus Quintana and Anja Rabezanahary. The former coordinator of the Sierra
Norte project, Antonieta Noli, provided valuable background that enriched the Peru text.
The staff of the Pastoral Community Development Project in Ethiopia deserve special
thanks for their support during the field mission to gather information for this issue.
© 2017 by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily
represent those of IFAD. The designations employed and the presentation of material in
this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of
IFAD concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities,
or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The designations “developed”
and “developing” countries are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily
express a judgement about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the
development process.
All rights reservedCover photo: ©IFAD/Asad Zaidi
ISBN 978-92-9072-770-5Printed August 2017
Table of contents
Acknowledgements 2
Abbreviations and acronyms 4
President’s Foreword 5
Ethiopia: Pastoralists more resilient to harsh conditions in their communities 6
Nepal: Marginalized communities benefit from innovative approach to forest management 12
Palestine: Higher incomes for farmers and microentrepreneurs and stronger institutions despite fragile context 19
Peru: Innovation, learning and adaptation transform highland communities 26
Sierra Leone: Agile and adaptive project supports post-conflict rehabilitation 33
IFAD Results Series Issue 2
CDD community-driven development
DSF Debt Sustainability Framework
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
GALS Gender Action Learning System
IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development
IOE Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD
LRAC local resource allocation committee
MARENASS Management of Natural Resources in the Southern Highlands Project
MOA Ministry of Agriculture
NGO non-governmental organization
PaSACCO pastoral savings and credit cooperative
PCDP Pastoral Community Development Project
PNRMP Participatory Natural Resource Management Programme
RCPRP Rehabilitation and Community-based Poverty Reduction Project
RELAP Resilient Land and Resource Management Project
Sierra Norte Strengthening Assets, Markets and Rural Development Policies in the Northern Highlands Project
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
4
Abbreviations and acronyms
5
Poor rural people face enormous challenges. Eighty per cent of the world’s poorest
people live in rural areas. IFAD works to create the social and economic conditions
that transform the rural areas of developing countries into places where women, men,
young people and the most marginalized community members can build decent lives.
The results and lessons highlighted in this second issue of the Results from the
Field series demonstrate the achievements of the rural development initiatives that
IFAD funds in partnership with developing country governments, poor rural people
and other actors.
In Ethiopia, pastoralists are now more resilient to the harsh conditions they face in
their communities, and equipped to prepare for and cope with natural disasters. They
have better access to public services, including health and education. More stable incomes,
especially for women, mean that household nutrition has also improved markedly.
In Nepal, marginalized rural communities have built viable and sustainable
livelihoods through an innovative approach to forest management supported
by IFAD. Given secure, long-term tenure to degraded forest plots, they had the
incentive to invest their time, effort and money in restoring the land and creating
fertile areas where they could prosper.
In Palestine, despite the complex, volatile and fragile context, farmers were able to
significantly increase their incomes from agriculture through a project that enabled
them to reclaim and rehabilitate degraded lands and access financial services.
In Peru, a ground-breaking series of projects has fostered dynamic and
entrepreneurial approaches to local development. Communities identify their own
development priorities, compete for and manage development funds, and contract
local service providers to provide technical assistance.
In Sierra Leone, a flexible and responsive approach helped communities
rebuild important infrastructure following the civil war, and in the process created
all-important employment opportunities for rural youth, giving them the skills and
experience to seek jobs elsewhere in the country after the project ended. The project
also enabled communities to strengthen their resilience to climate change.
IFAD-supported projects get results, as these experiences show. Still, we are
raising our level of ambition and adapting our business model to help realize the
promise of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals. IFAD aims to
deliver higher quality investment programmes with broader reach. These must be
matched to specific country needs in order to achieve more sustainable results and
impact at scale. We must ensure that our resources translate into real results on the
ground for those who need them most.
President’s Foreword
GILBERT F. HOUNGBOPresident of IFAD
IFAD Results Series Issue 2
Ethiopia: Pastoralists more resilient to harsh conditions in their communities
Participatory, demand-driven community development in the pastoral regions
of Ethiopia is helping to improve nutrition, health and education, and to
strengthen the resilience of rural communities against natural and man-
made disasters. Communities participate in the planning of local development
projects and benefit from growth and stability in household incomes.
Ethiopia is one of Africa’s fastest growing economies. In the past
decade, the country has made tremendous development gains in
education, health and food security. The government has made
huge investments to improve infrastructure, including commercial
buildings, roads and railways. Since 2007, this development agenda
has contributed to an average annual growth in GDP of over
10 per cent (World Bank, 2017).
6
©IF
AD
/Joa
nne
Levi
tan
Pastoral Community Development Project
Total project cost: US$418.2 million
IFAD loan: US$153.6 million
World Bank: US$220 million
Beneficiary contribution: US$33.6 million
Government of Ethiopia: US$11 million
Duration: 15 years (2003-2018)
Directly benefiting: 4.7 million rural households
Programme phases: Phase I (2003-2008)Phase II (2008-2013) Phase III (2013-2018)
7
Despite these rapid economic gains, the country remains one of the ten poorest
in the world, with an estimated annual per capita income of US$590 in 2015
(World Bank, 2017). About 27 per cent of Ethiopians live below the international
poverty line of US$1.90 a day (World Bank, 2016) and about 85 per cent depend
on subsistence agriculture (World Bank, 2011). Challenging climatic conditions,
such as the recent drought triggered by the El Niño effect, have made the population
extremely vulnerable to chronic food insecurity, especially in the arid and semi-arid
northeast and southeast zones, which are home to predominantly pastoralist and
agropastoralist communities.
Pastoralists represent only about 12 per cent of Ethiopia’s population, but
they occupy more than 60 per cent of the land. While they typically rear cattle
and sheep, they also rear camels, goats and horses. Although they own about
40 per cent of all livestock in the country, pastoralists are economically, socially and
politically marginalized. Not only are they vulnerable to climatic changes and shocks,
pastoralists also face challenges in accessing public and social services, markets, water
resources and good rangeland to feed their animals. This group is therefore among
the poorest and most vulnerable in rural areas in Ethiopia.
The projectThe Pastoral Community Development Project (PCDP) is an example of a successful
collaboration among development partners; in this case, IFAD and the World
Bank, with the Ethiopian government and local stakeholders. The project aims to
increase the productivity and resilience of smallholder farmers, pastoralists and
agropastoralists by facilitating their access to technology, finance, markets and
the knowledge they need to manage their natural resources in the face of climatic
challenges. Through three phases over 15 years, the project has focused on improving
public service delivery, investment and disaster management in pastoral areas as a
basis for improving the incomes, nutrition, health and education of communities.
The community-driven development approach used to design and implement the
project has meant that local people have played a significant role in decision-making
in local development initiatives.
At the community level, the project worked with pastoralists to set up the necessary
management structures through which to evaluate, approve and put into effect the
activities they proposed. PCDP also built capacity within government institutions
at the woreda (district) and kebele (subdistrict) levels, and improved systems for
accountability, learning and policy dialogue.
Community-driven development (CDD) is an approach that gives community
groups control over planning decisions and investment resources for local development
projects. While use of this approach is common in IFAD-supported projects, prior
to the PCDP it was untested in Ethiopia. Long-term support, extensive training,
awareness-raising and the strengthening of institutional capacity are key to the success
of the CDD approach. These factors were enabled by the Adaptable Program Loan
(World Bank) funding mechanism applied by the World Bank, which allowed for a
multiphased long-term engagement, with periodic reviews to identify where activities
needed to be modified according to the country and operational context.
IFAD Results Series Issue 2
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ResultsIn the 15 years since its inception, the PCDP has grown into a national project,
encompassing all the pastoral woredas in Ethiopia except those in Benishangul-
Gumuz and Gambela. About 4.7 million rural people in 145 woredas are benefiting
from improved access to public services and livelihoods.
Institutional strengthening and decentralization
A major achievement of the project has been the strengthening of state institutions
through decentralization of decision-making from the federal level to the lowest
administrative units of woredas and kebeles. This process was facilitated through
training, capacity-building and technical support, along with the provision of
equipment and furniture to community groups. At the start of the current phase
of the project in the Afar region, 3,620 community members had been trained in
community facilitation and organized into committees. The committees have
successfully mobilized community contributions in cash and in kind to establish
and manage 366 initiatives, including building schools, access roads, water points
and small-scale irrigation. These initiatives have improved both access to and
the quality of basic social services, particularly health and veterinary services. For
example, the average distance to a health facility has been reduced from 19 to 5 km
for community members. The distance to water points has been reduced to an average
of 3 km, providing considerable relief for women and children, who are traditionally
responsible for water collection.
Stable incomes and improved livelihoods
Almost 1,300 pastoral savings and credit cooperatives (PaSACCOs) have been
established – a significant achievement given that only 8 per cent of the population
has savings accounts with commercial banks. The PaSACCOs have mobilized
both savings and capital from members, 66 per cent of whom are women. They
have provided accounting and audit training at the woreda level for an average of
160 members each. The PaSACCOs have made it easier for the community, especially
women, to obtain loans to set up income-generating activities, with a notably low
repayment default rate due largely to peer pressure. Increased and steady incomes,
particularly among women, have resulted in improvements in household nutrition,
prenatal and postnatal childcare, and longer-term enrolment of children in school.
Men have invested in building more permanent houses, and in improved inputs for
higher livestock and agricultural yields.
Improved disaster prevention and preparedness
In the face of a steady increase in natural disasters in the target regions, traditional
early-warning systems have been largely ineffective. The project has helped pastoralist
communities to build participatory disaster management systems that reduce their
vulnerability. Local facilitators have been trained in 32 woredas to collect, analyse and
disseminate basic early warning and household welfare information, thus enabling
communities to take precautionary measures.
Another initiative within the project helps communities to identify major causes
of disaster and to prepare five-year strategic investment plans to mitigate against them.
9
For example, just under 64,000 pastoralists are now better equipped to deal with drought
and floods, and their farmlands are protected from erosion through the construction
of terraces. In addition, 82 water projects have been constructed in collaboration with
regional and woreda water development offices. These provide potable water and have
thus reduced waterborne diseases. Pastoralists now need to travel less in search of water
sources, and water-related conflict among pastoralists has been reduced.
Increased participatory learning and knowledge management
By its nature, the CDD approach increases the opportunities for pastoral communities
to share knowledge and to identify and document local innovation and best practice.
Pastoral communities take part in communication events, such as the annual Pastoral Day,
workshops, reciprocal working visits, and radio and television programmes, which have
contributed to their sense of empowerment and ownership of project interventions. In
addition, demonstration sites have been set up in the woredas to offer better-quality seeds
and share and discuss improved methods of agricultural and livestock farming. In this
way, the experience and knowledge gained from the bottom-up approach that is the CDD
have greatly improved the capacity of pastoralists for mutual learning and self-support.
Empowerment of women and girls
The project has focused on increasing women’s participation in the PaSACCOs, and
on increasing enrolment of girls in schools, as well as reducing their dropout rates. As
a result, girls’ enrolment went up by 43 per cent and the dropout rate at the primary
level fell by about 53 per cent. This success at the primary level has led to a push to
establish more secondary schools to absorb the increased number of students. In the
PaSACCOs, 66 per cent of members are women.
Challenges and solutionsAlthough the PCDP has achieved substantial improvements in the livelihoods of
pastoral and agropastoral communities, it has still encountered some challenges. In
particular, community-driven development being an innovation in Ethiopia at the
time, there was low capacity in government institutions and in communities to both
plan and implement initiatives. To counter this, mobile support teams of technical
experts in such fields as needs assessment, project planning, finance, audit, operations
and rural development provided technical assistance to local government staff.
Scaling upThe number of pastoralists benefiting from each phase of the PCDP has grown from
600,000 in the first phase to 2.6 million in the third phase. Geographically, the
project has expanded from 32 woredas to 113.
Successive phases have consolidated and scaled up earlier interventions by
incorporating lessons learned, and each phase has targeted particular development
needs. For example, in the first phase, the focus was on assessing and strengthening
the self-management capacities of indigenous communities and setting up
development committees at the woreda and kebele levels. With that capacity in place,
the second phase went on to establish community investment funding and introduce
the pastoral savings and credit cooperatives, mainly for women and young people.
IFAD Results Series Issue 2
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These two interventions helped to mobilize cash contributions from the community
and to introduce the possibility of livelihood diversification through petty trading,
grain and vegetable marketing, and livestock and milk production and marketing.
The third phase is consolidating achievements to date, and is emphasizing the
institutionalization of the CDD approach. In addition, there is greater attention to
improving rural livelihoods through diversified income-generating activities.
One of PCDP’s key strengths is that it has engaged with existing government
structures and development partner institutions, and has worked with them to build
capacity where needed. It has thus been easier to scale up the successes of CDD, which
is a major departure from previous top-down methodologies in rural infrastructure
development in the country. For example, community groups themselves have
pushed for the approach to be used in other interventions by government and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Other communities have specifically requested the CDD approach as they learn
about the success of the PCDP, and have pushed for its use in other community
investments by government and other development partners. CDD modalities
are gradually being integrated into national decentralization planning, budget
development, support to rural livelihoods and policy dialogue enhancement. The
integration is also horizontal in the target groups and other communities.
Main lessons• Involving rural communities and civil society organizations in project design and
implementation is essential to project success. The CDD approach increased the
involvement of local communities and government in decision-making,
and ensured greater commitment to the success of interventions that were
considered more relevant and beneficial. Also, the direct management by the
community of financial resources for development activities has increased
their engagement and ownership.
• A number of factors are necessary for a successful CDD approach. The success of
the approach in PCDP can be attributed to broad participation by pastoralist
communities, particularly women; effective facilitation of community discussions;
clear accountability of community groups; and the fact that the interventions are
relevant to the community, thereby also increasing their sustainability.
• The success of projects improves with the modification of interventions. The Adaptable
Program Loan funding mechanism has a long-term focus and allows for a
broader programmatic approach rather than discrete projects. The long-term
focus makes it easier to regularly evaluate interventions, and modify them in
line with the internal and external context.
• Strengthening local institutions leads to more sustainable results. The focus of the
PCDP was to ensure long-term sustainability once the project ended. Local
development committees were established at the woreda and kebele levels
to lead implementation of project activities, and their members received
training and technical assistance. These committees are now part of the formal
government system, and their development plans are incorporated into the
central budget, thus ensuring that projects that have been first confirmed by
the community are sustained even after donor funding has ended.
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ConclusionThe PCDP has achieved its many successes primarily because it has brought
communities together to discuss and decide upon the development interventions
most relevant to them. It provided the support and capacity-building the communities
needed to achieve their development goals, and then helped them set up systems
and processes to achieve them. This participatory process has ensured increased
interest and engagement, as well as learning and innovation with each successive
phase. In addition, the structures established to lead programme interventions, such
as the woreda and kebele development committees, are part of the formal government
system, and will therefore endure beyond the life of the project.
With the commitment to continuous review, capacity-building and support for
the broader institutionalization of participatory approaches to development, this
project has not only provided otherwise marginalized communities with key skills to
improve their livelihoods, it has also established a successful model for development
interventions in the country.
ReferencesIFAD, 2011. Project Completion Digest – 2011: PCDP – I.
IFAD, 2013. The IFAD Quality Assurance Project Summary – PCDP – III.
IFAD, 2013. President’s Report, Proposed Loan for PCDP III.
IFAD, 2015. Ethiopia – Scaling Up Note, East and Southern Africa Region.
IOE, 2014. Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Country Programme
Evaluation Approach Paper. IFAD.
IOE, 2015. Project Performance Assessment PPA – PCDP II. IFAD.
IOE, 2016. Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Project Performance
Assessment, PCDP II. IFAD.
IOE, 2016. Country Programme Evaluation – Ethiopia. IFAD.
World Bank, 2011. Ethiopia: Climate Risk and Adaptation Country Profile,
Washington, D.C.
World Bank, 2013. Project Appraisal Document – PCDP III. World Bank,
Washington, D.C.
World Bank, 2014. Implementation Completion and Results Report – PCDP II.
World Bank, Washington, D.C.
World Bank, 2016. Why so Idle? Wages and Employment in a Crowded Labor
Market. Washington, D.C.
World Bank, 2017. Implementation Status and Results Report, PCDP III. World
Bank, Washington, D.C.
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IFAD Results Series Issue 2
Nepal: Marginalized communities benefit from innovative approach to forest management
An innovative and inclusive programme in the Himalayan foothills in
Nepal transformed barren lands into fertile areas where poor farmers
could prosper. Degraded forest plots were allocated to marginalized rural
communities with 40-year renewable leases, giving them secure tenure and
thus the incentive to invest in restoring the land. Villagers have increased
their incomes and created viable and sustainable livelihoods and forests
have been restored.
Nepal has made significant progress in reducing poverty in the
past decade, and poverty rates (US$1.25 per day) went down from
30.9 per cent in 2004 to 25.2 per cent in 2015 (Asian Development
Bank, 2007 and 2017). However, Nepal remains one of the poorest
countries in Asia. Poverty, along with food and nutrition insecurity,
©IF
AD
/Irsh
ad K
han
Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme*
Total programme cost: US$15.8 million
IFAD loan: US$12 million
DSF grant: US$1.5 million
IFAD grant: US$1.2 million
Government contribution: US$1.05 million
Beneficiary contribution: US$0.014 million
Duration: 2004-2015
Directly benefiting: 44,300 households
* Programme phases:- Phase I (1989-2001):
Hills Leasehold Forestry and Forage Development Project
13
is widespread, especially in the rural hill and mountain areas of the country where
50 per cent of the population lives. Social discrimination is prevalent in rural Nepal and
poverty is concentrated in specific ethnic, caste and minority groups, such as the low
caste (Dalits) and indigenous peoples (Janajatis). Women are vulnerable to poverty and
are often left to take care of the family when men migrate in search of work.
Forest covers more than 40 per cent of the national territory and plays a key
role in the rural household economy by providing firewood, timber and fodder for
livestock. But forest resources have deteriorated rapidly over the past century, mainly
due to population growth, which has led to unsustainable use of natural resources.
Deforestation caused by unregulated use and collection of forest products, mainly by
poor families to cover their basic needs, and overgrazing by their animals, have resulted
in environmental degradation that has transformed forests into wastelands.
In the 1970s, the Government of Nepal introduced community forestry and began
handing over responsibility for managing forest areas to community user groups. In
return for taking steps to protect against deforestation, the user groups were given limited
rights to collect firewood. However, the poorest people were often excluded from these
groups, and in the 1990s the government initiated leasehold forestry to address this
gap. With support from IFAD, initially through the Hills Leasehold Forestry and Forage
Development Project, from 1992 to 2002, small and mostly degraded plots of state forest
were leased to groups of very poor, often socially excluded households on a renewable
40-year lease. The aim was to rehabilitate the degraded forest land while reducing poverty
by enabling families to use and sell the forest products in a sustainable way.
The programme The Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme, implemented from 2004 to 2015
in 22 districts across Nepal’s middle hills region, built on the successes of the earlier
project. The programme targeted poor families living in the isolated hills and lower
mountains at the foot of the Himalayas, and aimed to improve their living conditions
by integrating forest conservation with livestock production. It was implemented jointly
by the Department of Forests under the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, and
the Department of Livestock Services under the Ministry of Agricultural Development.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) provided technical
assistance, financed by the Government of Finland.
Poor families living in areas adjacent to degraded forestlands were allocated plots
of land within the forests, with guaranteed tenure for 40 years and the possibility to
extend for another 40 years. Despite the poor condition of the forest areas, land-poor
and marginalized families were interested in taking over the plots, as the assured tenure
gave them the incentive to work hard to restore the degraded forestland.
The programme helped establish leasehold forestry user groups and targeted the
poorest and most marginalized groups, including Dalits, indigenous peoples and
women. Each user group comprised five to ten households that were responsible for
managing the forest plots, developing operational plans, and allocating sub-plots to
group members. Young local women were hired as group promoters and trained to
mobilize and support the groups as they put their plans into practice, advising on a range
of technical issues, including the planting, management and production of appropriate
species of forage, fodder and other non-timber forest products.
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IFAD Results Series Issue 2
Livestock production played an important role in reducing poverty. Goat-rearing is
a common practice in rural areas and a main source of income for many households.
Women contribute significantly to raising livestock, so integrating livestock production
with leasehold forestry provided an opportunity to bring women into the commercial
production system and raise their incomes. At the same time, user groups were
encouraged to stall-feed their animals in an effort to shift from the practice of free
grazing which was damaging the environment.
Members of user groups were given livestock, mainly goats, once the leasehold
plots and farms had produced enough forage and fodder for the animals to be
stall-fed. Families were trained in how to build stalls for their animals, and the animals
were allowed to graze only periodically in controlled areas. Local villagers were trained
to become village animal health workers, and were able to start small businesses that
provided basic veterinary and animal health care services for group members.
The programme later introduced the Livelihood Improvement Plan in response
to demands from user groups for help in generating additional incomes through
commercial production of new agricultural products. The plan funded activities such
as construction of biogas facilities and cultivation of non-timber forest products and
high-value crops.
Results The programme made important achievements, particularly in relation to the
rehabilitation of forests and other natural resources. It also contributed to improved
livelihoods of the poorest families in the hill communities.
Increased incomes and food security
The programme resulted in significant improvements in income and food security
through increased production and sale of agricultural, livestock and forest products. The
average annual household income increased by more than 270 per cent and household
expenditure increased by almost 150 per cent. Before the programme, the main sources
of income were shifting cultivation, sale of firewood and outmigration for seasonal
work. With programme support, farmers were able to diversify their income sources
through improved farming, off-season vegetable farming, livestock production and
employment. The production of vegetables on private land also increased and access to
markets improved.
Livestock production contributed to increased income for 70 per cent of the
households, and the sale of livestock increased by more than 130 per cent. Families
received two goats through the programme, and most households increased their herd
size to more than six goats. With the increased income from goats, some families were
able to buy high-yielding dairy cattle.
The increase in the productivity of farmland also led to better food security and food
self-sufficiency. During the programme period, households produced enough food to
be self-sufficient for up to nine months of the year, in comparison to less than three
months beforehand. Households experiencing one hungry season per year decreased
from 64 to 22 per cent, while households suffering a second hungry season dropped
from 7 to 4 per cent.
15
Restoring the environment and natural resource base
Changes in forest management practices on the leasehold plots had a direct impact
on the environment and natural resource base. The decline in shifting cultivation and
free grazing of livestock resulted in less soil erosion and fewer incidences of forest fires.
Shifting cultivation plots were converted into multiple-use agroforestry, and 60 per cent
of households adopted improved land management and forage cultivation techniques.
As a result, 70 per cent of leasehold forest plots were covered by grass and trees. The
forest crown cover increased with new plantations, and with the growth of new and
old trees in the leasehold plots. The rehabilitation of the natural forest and vegetation
led to increased biodiversity with more and improved varieties of forage and grass
species, as well as non-timber forest products such as broom grass and bamboo. These
non-timber forest products, including edible and medicinal plants, were important
sources of income, and various indigenous plant species were regenerated once the areas
were protected. The population of wildlife and birds also increased.
The availability of fodder and forage had an immediate impact on the livelihoods
of the villagers, as it reduced the time spent on chores such as collecting fodder and
firewood and herding grazing animals. This benefited mostly women and children.
On average, the time required for collecting fodder and forage was reduced by
46 per cent, from 2.6 hours per day to 1.4 hours, while the time spent collecting
firewood and timber was reduced by up to 40 per cent.
Inclusion and empowerment of marginalized groups
The programme helped create 4,101 user groups, involving more than 40,000
households and including the most marginalized community members. Dalits and
Janajatis represented 11 and 74 per cent, respectively, of all members, reflecting the
ethnic structure found in the village development committees. More than a third of
the members were women, and households headed by women were well represented,
constituting 16 per cent of the overall membership.
Women held more than 80 per cent of key decision-making positions and felt
empowered to express their views. Overall, most households had family members who
held executive positions in the groups and participated in decision-making processes.
The user groups strengthened social links and built trust among people from the
most vulnerable communities. This enabled members to work together on managing
the forest plots and other economic activities. The best groups were able to grow into
cooperatives and, in some cases, cooperatives have federated into district associations.
This has built stronger social cohesion, also among non-user groups, and better
relations and coordination with local institutions. Some cooperatives were able to
access external financing and, while the capacity of the groups varied, group members
were confident and committed to continuing and scaling up activities.
Challenges and solutions Despite significant achievements, the programme faced a number of challenges. One of
the main challenges was to ensure the sustainability of the user groups after the end of
the programme. A 2012 survey showed that 62 per cent of groups established during the
previous leasehold forestry project were still active 15 years after they were formed, while
one third of the groups were no longer active. Groups established during the Leasehold
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IFAD Results Series Issue 2
Forestry and Livestock Programme are mostly active, but without programme support
and, based on the experience of the earlier project, one third of the groups may be at
risk in terms of sustainability. User groups that maintained good financial records also
declined from 60 per cent in 2010 to 47 per cent in 2013.
The issue of sustainability of the groups is related to other key challenges. The
leasehold forestry plots were severely degraded and often located in remote areas far
from the villages, which meant that about one third of the plots were never allocated
to villagers. Significant time, effort and money were involved in improving the forest
plots, and operational plans had to be context-specific to ensure the best use of the
land. The user groups also required forest-related training and training on marketing to
sell their products. For example, some surplus species were wasted because of the lack
of knowledge on how to use them, resulting in loss of potential revenues. The time-
intensive nature of the work, in particular, was a major issue for the district forest officers.
District forest officers who are responsible for leasehold forestry are also
responsible for community forestry programmes. With only two staff added to
implement leasehold forestry, the district forestry officers had limited time to provide
the necessary support to the user groups. This issue will require increased investments
by the government to ensure that the district forest officers have the resources to
support the user groups.
The social composition of the user groups also presented a challenge. While the
majority of members were from poor households, people from wealthier households
were also allowed to join the groups in order to avoid potential community conflicts.
Leasehold forestry can challenge local power structures by favouring the direct transfer
of productive resources to the poorest households. In this regard, the formation of
larger cooperatives became an important mechanism to counter resistance or potential
expropriation of resources by local elites.
Scaling up The leasehold forestry approach has been widely replicated and scaled up across
Nepal. At the national level, leasehold forestry is considered an effective tool to
address rural poverty and is among the top priorities in the government’s poverty
reduction strategy. After leasehold forestry was first tested through the Hills Leasehold
Forestry and Forage Development Project, the Government of Nepal introduced the
Forestry Policy in 2002, which streamlined the process and provided full authority to
the district forestry officers to hand over plots, approve operational plans and renew
leasing licences. The Forest Act of 1993 has also been amended to ensure that the
legal status of leasehold forestry is equal to that of community forestry. This means
that forest plots can be handed over directly to leasehold user groups without first
offering it to communities for community forestry as was the practice before.
After closing the Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme, the government
has continued financing and implementing leasehold forestry, and the approach
has been replicated in government and donor-funded programmes, such as
the Biodiversity Sector Programme for Siwaliks and Terai, the Livelihoods and
Forestry Programme and Multi-Stakeholder Forestry Programme, as well as by the
IFAD-funded Western Uplands Poverty Alleviation Project. Currently, leasehold
forestry is being implemented in 37 districts in the country.
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The Department of Forests has reorganized its Community Forest Division and
has created a leasehold forestry section within the division to promote the leasehold
forestry approach. Leasehold forestry has been mainstreamed into government
policies and legislation and has addressed a gap in community forestry in terms of
reaching the poorest people. While the two approaches are not entirely integrated,
leasehold forestry has become complementary to community forestry and is
recognized by the government and donor community for its positive contribution to
environmental conservation through reforestation, and to poverty reduction through
increased production and sale of forest and livestock products.
Main lessons• Leasehold forestry is an effective tool for reducing poverty and regenerating degraded
forestlands. Handing over degraded forestland to poor households has resulted
in significant economic and environmental gains. The assured land tenure is
critical because it provides poor people the security and incentives they need
to invest their time and money in improving and developing the land. This has
delivered significant benefits for poor and landless people, especially in terms
of higher incomes. Evidence shows a direct correlation between how well the
leasehold forestry plots are managed and the level of increase in household
incomes. This has, in turn, resulted in substantial environmental gains.
• Combining leasehold forestry with other income-generating activities, capacity-
building and access to markets leads to better results and increased sustainability. The
clear economic benefits of leasehold forestry and the options it provides poor
communities for income generation are key incentives for user groups to use
the approach. The combination of activities such as livestock and commercial
production of agricultural products has provided poor communities the
opportunity to diversify their income sources, and thus earn higher incomes.
Experience has underlined the importance of training in order to ensure
user groups have the skills they need to manage the degraded forestlands
productively. Likewise, access to markets, for example, for non-timber forest
products, and linkages with private-sector industries along the value chain
help ensure that user groups get maximum and sustainable benefits from
managing and improving their forest plots.
• User groups can become an instrument for social inclusion and empowerment of
marginalized communities. The leasehold forestry user groups have proven
to be an important means of including very poor and marginalized people
in decision-making, giving them the opportunity to voice their concerns
and priorities. In cases where user groups have federated into cooperatives,
members have benefited from improved marketing opportunities and services.
It has also increased their bargaining power and influence at the political level
as well as within their communities.
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• Establishing links between user groups, the broader community and local institutions
is crucial. Collaboration between the user groups and others in the community
helped ensure the buy-in and support needed to make leasehold forestry
successful. It also led to greater social cohesion. Potential conflicts were
avoided in cases where user groups shared experiences and best practices with
village development committees and consulted on the selection of families
that would receive the forestry plots.
ConclusionLeasehold forestry was a new and innovative way of supporting the forestry sector
in Nepal. It had a pro-poor focus and addressed an existing gap in the national
approach to community forestry. By handing over degraded forestry plots to poor
and marginalized households and supporting them in generating additional incomes
from livestock and commercial production of agricultural products, the programme
successfully contributed to reducing poverty while also restoring the forests. The
leasehold forestry user groups provided an important platform for empowering the
most vulnerable community groups and enabled members to work together. IFAD
played a catalytic role in promoting the leasehold forestry approach and the good
results led to changes in forestry policy and legislation. Leasehold forestry has been
recognized as a key strategy to address rural poverty and has been integrated into
community forestry programmes across Nepal.
ReferencesADB, 2007. Basic Statistics 2007. Asian Development Bank.
ADB, 2017. Basic Statistics 2017. Asian Development Bank.
IFAD, 2004. Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme. Design document. IFAD.
IFAD, 2004. Case Study. Providing the Poor with Secure Access to Land in the Hills
of Nepal. IFAD.
IFAD, 2013. Nepal. Country Strategic Opportunity Programme. COSOP. IFAD.
IFAD, 2015. Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme. Programme Completion
Review Mission. Main report and appendices. IFAD.
IFAD, 2015. Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme. Project Completion
Report. Working papers. IFAD.
IFAD, 2017. Assessment of the Impact of Country-level Policy Engagement. IFAD,
SEAP. Draft.
IOE, 2013. Nepal Country Programme Evaluation. Independent Office of Evaluation,
IFAD.
IOE, 2016. Project Completion Report Validation. Leasehold Forestry and Livestock
Programme. Independent Office of Evaluation, IFAD.
SEEPORT Consultancy, 2014. Impact of Leasehold Forestry on Livelihoods and Forest
Management. Final draft report. Socio-Economic and Ethno-Political Research
and Training (SEEPORT) Consultancy.
Shapiro, B. et al., 2015. Regenerating Forests and Livelihoods in Nepal – A New Lease
on Life. CABI, FAO and IFAD.
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Palestine: Higher incomes for farmers and microentrepreneurs and stronger institutions despite fragile context
In the conflict-affected West Bank, where almost 20 per cent of rural people live below the poverty
line, this programme addressed some of the most pressing barriers to sustainable rural development –
secure access to agricultural land and water resources. Despite the fragile context, the committed
efforts of the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, IFAD, local NGOs, farmers and the United
Nations Development Programme led to increased yields and higher incomes for farmers and
small and microentrepreneurs and created strong partnerships across the agricultural sector.
Palestine is a lower middle-income country that has experienced decades of conflict,
instability and political unrest. While the country has made some progress in areas such
as health and education, the volatile situation has had a severe impact on economic
and social development. The Palestinian economy has suffered multiple shocks over the
years due to political instability, and economic growth has been slow and inconsistent.
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In the West Bank, the unemployment rate reaches 18 per cent, with
youth unemployment reaching 40 per cent for men and 63 per cent
for women (ILO, 2015).
Some 18 per cent of the population in the West Bank lives below
the national poverty line (set at US$700 per month for a household
of five) (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 2016). Poverty rates
are closely linked to political instability, restrictions on movement
and high food prices. Many communities have been isolated by the
separation wall and have lost access to agricultural lands and roads,
as well as to services, markets and other communities.
About 25 per cent of the West Bank population lives in rural
areas, where food insecurity is high. Under normal circumstances,
agricultural production could contribute to a balanced diet.
However, fragmented and small-scale family-owned farms, frequent
freezing of access to Israeli markets and high food prices force the
poorest households to reduce the variety and nutritional value
found in their diets.
Restricted access to land is one of the biggest constraints for
smallholder farmers in the West Bank. More than 43 per cent
of land is not available to Palestinians for agricultural use due to
Israeli settlements (UNDP, 2015). Also, land tenure practices pose
a risk that idle and unused lands could be confiscated. About
63 per cent of the arable land is under the so-called Area C, which
is not under the full control of the Palestinian Authority and where
construction of agricultural infrastructure by Palestinian farmers
requires additional permits. In addition, access restrictions mean
that 82 per cent of the groundwater is not available for use by
Palestinians (UNDP, 2015). Processing and marketing represent
another challenge for most Palestinian farmers, since the Palestinian
Authority does not have control over formal marketing channels.
As a result of these restrictions on movement and access, the
cost of agricultural inputs is high. Significant investments are needed in rural areas
to improve agricultural productivity and to raise incomes through development and
management of land and water resources, construction of access roads, and increased
access to financing for agricultural inputs and small businesses.
The programme It was within this context that IFAD and the Palestinian Authority developed the
Participatory Natural Resource Management Programme (PNRMP) in the West Bank.
IFAD was one of the first agencies to provide assistance to the Palestinian Authority in
the agricultural sector. The programme focused on improving agricultural productivity
through developing and managing land and water resources and by facilitating access
to credit for income-generating activities.
The PNRMP became effective in 2000 and was originally designed as a
five-year programme, financed by an IFAD loan. However, a number of factors delayed
and disrupted its implementation. At the time, the Palestinian Authority had only
Participatory Natural Resource Management Programme
Total programme cost: US$16.85 million
Total IFAD financing: US$10.79 million, as follows:
IFAD loan: US$2.82 million
IFAD grant: US$7.97 million
Duration: 2000-2015
Directly benefiting: 5,540 households
Cofinanciers: UNDP-DEEP (Deprived Families Economic Empowerment Programme): US$3.3 million
Palestinian Authority: US$0.48 million
Beneficiaries:US$1.38 million
Microfinance institutions: US$0.9 million
Programme phases:Phase I (2000-2008) was implemented by UNDP-PAPP (Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People)
Phase II (2010-2015) was implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture
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just been established and the implementation of the programme was transferred to the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which implemented it through
local NGOs. The launch of the programme coincided with the beginning of the second
intifada in 2000, and given the continuous political instability, security concerns and
restrictions on mobility, it was suspended from 2002 to 2004. Activities resumed from
2005 to 2007, but in an extremely fragile environment, coinciding this time with the
2006 legislative elections. The Palestinian Civil War between Fatah and Hamas that
followed the elections and ultimately led to the takeover of Gaza by Hamas in 2007
resulted in suspension of donor funding and Israeli-imposed economic sanctions.
While Hamas controlled Gaza, the Palestinian Authority governed the West Bank, but
the freeze in donor funding led to severe budget deficits and the Palestinian Authority
entered a fiscal crisis. Given the inability of the Palestinian Authority to assume any
further debt, it requested, in 2008, that the IFAD loan be cancelled.
In the light of these developments, IFAD decided that the balance of the loan
should be made available as a grant to the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture (MOA).
A grant agreement was, therefore, signed in 2009 between IFAD and the MOA, and
from 2010, PNRMP became the first major programme to be directly implemented
by the MOA. Local NGOs and farmer committees were involved in implementing the
activities, which helped forge strong partnerships between the MOA, IFAD, NGOs
and farming communities.
The programme reflected a shift in focus by the development community following
the first Oslo Accord in 1993, from emergency relief to a development approach in
Palestine. Within this context, the PNRMP addressed some of the most pressing barriers
to sustainable rural development in the West Bank – secure access to agricultural land
and water resources – and aimed to increase incomes and assets of poor smallholder
farmers in the rural communities. Focusing on areas in the northern West Bank where
there was good agricultural potential, the programme supported farmers who were able
to contribute their own time and money as they improved their land by constructing
rural access roads, building or rehabilitating water cisterns and small natural springs,
removing rocks, planting seedlings, and establishing retaining walls, terraces and home
gardens. The programme also provided credit to entrepreneurs for income-generating
activities, as well as loans to establish and strengthen small businesses.
Results The programme contributed to significant changes despite the complex and volatile
political context. IFAD’s continued engagement and the commitment from UNDP,
the Ministry of Agriculture and implementing partners were instrumental in bringing
about these changes.
Increased production led to higher incomes and better food security
Soil erosion, steep slopes and the presence of large rocks had prevented many farmers
from cultivating their land in the programme area, limiting their ability to make a
living and leaving them vulnerable to having their land confiscated. As a result of the
programme activities, idle land was being cultivated (overall about 556.8 hectares),
degraded land was transformed into more productive farmland (about 373.5 hectares),
and yields increased.
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Better access roads helped reduce post-harvest losses by almost 75 per cent, and
the construction of cisterns meant that most farmers’ annual water needs were met.
Household incomes increased by up to 19 per cent for farmers whose lands had
not been cultivated before the programme. Farmers whose lands had been partially
cultivated before the programme saw their incomes increase by 12 per cent. Incomes
specifically from farm production went up by between 70 and 87 per cent.
Despite a late start in delivering credit services, access to credit meant that small
livestock and agribusiness owners were able to invest in their enterprises, resulting in
a 47 per cent rise in average income from US$601 to US$888 per month.
Higher production of more nutritional crops, combined with increased incomes,
also improved household food security and nutrition. Families were able to afford
milk, cheese and fruits more regularly, and they were encouraged to establish home
gardens and cultivate green vegetables, which significantly improved the diversity and
nutritional value in their diets.
Investments resulted in new employment opportunities
With access to credit and increased investments in small agribusinesses, the average
number of new job opportunities more than doubled, and full-time jobs were
created for almost 1,100 people. In general, the number of people from agricultural
households working as a result of programme activities increased by between 13 and
22 per cent.
Land tenure became more secure and the value of land increased
Under the land tenure system, farmers had a stronger basis for retaining their land if
it was under cultivation. This gave farmers a clear incentive to develop and work on
their land with programme support, which in turn gave them more secure tenure. As
the quality of the land improved, they were able to farm more productively, lessening
the likelihood that the land would fall into disuse. Overall, the programme helped
improve the sense of security over their land for 50 per cent of the farmers.
Land values increased by 60 to 70 per cent as productivity improved, and as new
and rehabilitated roads gave farmers better access to farmland.
Institutional capacities and partnerships were strengthened
The programme’s implementation arrangements helped strengthen management
capacities within the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as among the NGOs, village
councils and farming communities responsible for implementing the activities.
The location of the programme’s management unit within the ministry and the
training of Ministry of Agriculture staff helped build capacity in the areas of financial
management, procurement, rural finance, and results-based management.
In particular, the participatory approach adopted by the ministry led to greater
cooperation and exchange of valuable experience between partners. For example, sites
for rehabilitation were identified in consultation with village councils, and farmer
committees helped to select the participating farmers. The collaboration resulted in a
high level of interest, engagement and confidence among individual farmers, farmer
committees and other local institutions.
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Challenges and solutions The programme encountered many setbacks due to the highly volatile political
context, not least due to the outbreak of the second intifada, which led to a suspension
of activities because of security concerns. Other challenges were related to lack of
institutional capacity and difficulties in engaging the main target groups.
Credit services became available only towards the end of the programme in 2014,
partly due to the initial lack of experience in the ministry in credit management and
disbursement, and the perception that farmers were not willing or able to take out and
repay loans. Consequently, the credit component was restructured to focus specifically
on productive small enterprises, and implementation was shifted from the ministry to
UNDP. The credit activities were successful in many respects, especially those related to
investments in small enterprises and job creation. However, the late start meant that
the land development and credit components were not well integrated.
Building on lessons from this experience, and taking into account that other
development partners are investing in innovative banking and financial services for
small and medium-sized enterprises, the new IFAD-funded project in Palestine – the
Resilient Land and Resource Management Project (RELAP) – will encourage stronger
linkages for farmers and microentrepreneurs with microfinance institutions.
The programme also faced challenges related to targeting of farmers. A standard
requirement from the Ministry of Agriculture that farmers contribute their own
funds – 25 per cent of the cost of land reclamation and rehabilitation – meant that
some smallholders were unable to participate, while larger landowners could benefit
from the programme activities. In addition, the primary focus on land development
excluded some groups, such as landless people, and in particular women and youth.
These challenges will be addressed in the new project: it will target farmers with
smaller plots of land that will be less costly to develop and hence will require smaller
financial contributions from the farmers; more vulnerable groups, such as women
and young people, will be involved in development of microenterprises, including
greenhouses, bee-keeping and small livestock; and community-based approaches to
natural resource management will be encouraged.
In the Palestinian context, involving women in the programme also presented
challenges, particularly in relation to land development, and despite considerable
effort by the ministry, most activities were managed by men. The ministry, therefore,
customized its approach and allowed women with small plots of land to participate
even without registered property titles, as few women hold land titles due to customary
practices. Specific targeting criteria were also developed for women. While these
measures resulted in improved participation of women, the new project will take
a different approach and focus on the whole family in land development activities.
To further encourage women’s participation, RELAP will also develop activities that
specifically target women-owned microenterprises.
Scaling upMost of the programme’s land development activities will be scaled up in RELAP,
which is expected to get under way in mid-2018. The project will focus on land and
water development activities that are more cost-effective and financially attractive for
smallholder farmers, and will improve farmers’ linkages to markets, one of the areas
IFAD Results Series Issue 2
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identified as needing greater attention in PNRMP. This will include working with other
donor-funded projects to raise awareness about existing marketing opportunities,
link farmers to cooperatives, and support storage, packaging and processing facilities.
The long-term goal is to integrate farmers into profitable value chains.
The PNRMP was developed and implemented shortly after the creation of the
Palestinian Authority and in a context where the implementation of development
projects was dominated primarily by local NGOs. As the first and one of the only
donors to collaborate directly with the Ministry of Agriculture, IFAD contributed
to building the capacity of the ministry, and through the implementation and
coordination of the programme, a standard system on how to work and coordinate
with local partners was established.
The programme also developed operating procedures for land reclamation which
were mainstreamed into other donor-funded programmes, and the experience
gained from the programme contributed to the development of two national
policies, the National Agriculture Sector Strategy 2014-2016 and the National Policy
Agenda 2017-2022.
Main lessons• Ensuring flexibility to respond to both the external context and specific needs
enhances relevance and impact. Despite the fragile environment in which it was
operating, the programme was able to make a difference because it focused
on activities that would produce results. While the land development activities
and technologies promoted by the programme were mostly traditional, they
responded to the most urgent needs of the communities. The programme was
flexible and restructured activities as needed, enabling it to respond to the
volatile external context while directly addressing the specific challenges faced
by the farmers.
• Strengthening institutional capacities of national partners leads to better results. The
programme reflected a shift from emergency relief to a development approach in
Palestine, which had clear implications for state-building. IFAD was one of the few
development partners that contributed to building the capacity of the Ministry of
Agriculture (MOA). The technical and managerial training allowed the MOA to
take over responsibility and play a leading role in coordinating the programme.
The leadership style adopted by the MOA created strong partnerships between
the MOA, the implementing NGOs and the farming communities. The result
was a feeling of common purpose, and this synergy led to valuable exchanges of
experience and added to the capacity of both the MOA and the NGOs.
• A participatory process builds confidence among individual farmers and enhances
ownership and sustainability. The MOA took a participatory approach to
planning and implementation. Farmers were involved in decision-making on
activities and were willing to contribute their own resources for maintenance
of infrastructure built by the programme. The positive results sustained
farmers’ interest in agriculture; they felt more attached to their land and were
able to rely on incomes derived from agriculture. This contributed to a sense of
ownership over products and services in the farming communities, indicating
good prospects for sustainability.
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• Leveraging local expertise is critical in a fragile context with weak institutional
capacities. NGOs have played a strong role in Palestine as the only vehicle
for implementation of development programmes during the years of conflict.
Local agricultural NGOs have long and relevant experience in working with
rural communities through participatory approaches, and implementing
land and water resource development activities. The programme did not
introduce new institutions, but worked through well-grounded existing
ones and leveraged their expertise in the agricultural sector. The local NGOs
filled a critical gap in the institutional capacity to implement activities and
complemented the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture.
ConclusionThe programme made a clear difference in the livelihoods of the participants,
improving security over land and resources, creating discernible improvements in
incomes and yield, and consolidating institutional partnerships across the sector.
Despite the fragile context which interrupted the implementation of programme
activities, IFAD, the Ministry of Agriculture and the implementing partners,
including the farming communities, stayed committed to continuing the activities
and contributed to significant impacts. The programme remained highly relevant by
focusing on the most pressing constraints facing smallholder farmers in the area and
adopting a flexible approach to accommodate the changing circumstances. The strong
relationships created through the programme have resulted in a sense of shared
responsibility and ownership and have built the capacities of national institutions,
which is critical for future sustainability.
ReferencesAWRAD, 2015. Participatory Natural Resource Management Programme. Impact
Study. Arab World for Research and Development.
IFAD, 1998. Participatory Natural Resource Management Programme. The
President’s Report. IFAD.
IFAD, 2016. Participatory Natural Resource Management Programme. Project
Completion Report. IFAD.
IFAD, 2017. Concept Note: Resilient Land and Resource Management Project
(RELAP). IFAD.
ILO, 2015. The Situation of Workers of the Occupied Arab Territories. International
Labour Office.
PCBS, 2016: Palestine in Figures 2015. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
UNDP, 2015. The 2014 Palestine Human Development Report. Development for
Empowerment. UNDP.
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Peru: Innovation, learning and adaptation transform highland communities
In the poor areas of the Peruvian highlands, an interconnected chain of
projects has significantly improved food security, reduced malnutrition
and poverty, and empowered local communities. For more than 20 years,
IFAD-funded projects have adopted a systematic practice of learning and
adaptation, with decentralization and innovation as key characteristics. This
approach is now part of the government’s own strategy to fight rural poverty
and has been scaled up by other donors.
Peru is the fourth largest country in Latin America, divided
geographically into three very diverse natural regions: Costa, Sierra
and Selva – coast, highlands and forest. The natural environment
ranges from arid coastline to dry highlands, pastures and lakes of the
mountain ranges, to lush and dense tropical rainforests.
Strengthening Assets, Markets and Rural Development Policies in the Northern Highlands (Sierra Norte)
Total project cost: US$21.7 million
IFAD loan: US$14.4 million
Government contribution: US$3.4 million
Regional and local governments: US$1.7 million
Beneficiary contribution: US$1.2 million
Duration: 2009-2016
Directly benefiting: 20,930 households
Cofinanciers: Action Aid: US$1.0 million
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Peru is a middle-income country, with one of the best performing economies in
the region. Its development has been led by private investment, strong export
performance and low public-sector debt, resulting in growth in employment and
incomes. Notwithstanding the good performance, about a third of the population
lives in poverty, mainly in rural areas, and especially in the Sierra region.
Poor families in the highlands are primarily subsistence farmers who earn an income
through off-farm employment, making and selling crafts, and other activities. There
are many obstacles to rural development, including poor linkages to national and
international markets, limited organization among producers, and poor access to public
and financial services. The population is widely dispersed and infrastructure such as
roads and telecommunication systems is lacking. The isolation is exacerbated by a lack
of public institutions with the capacities to implement local development initiatives.
Over the past 20 years, government efforts to combat rural poverty have focused
on strengthening the competitiveness and market access of small producers, and on
improving household food security and nutrition. Decentralization and a territorial
approach to development have been key, supporting local development through
regional governments and institutions, such as municipal and regional councils. Since
the 1980s, IFAD has supported the government, as it has transferred decision-making
power and financial resources to local institutions and to rural communities themselves.
The projectSince 1980, IFAD has provided 10 loans to Peru, investing in an interconnected
chain of projects focused on the systematic introduction, fine-tuning and scaling
up of innovations. Each project has sharpened IFAD’s focus on a specific area or
sector and has scaled up innovations piloted in previous projects. Projects have
focused on investments in natural resource management, strengthening rural-urban
linkages through the development of market corridors, development of small and
microenterprises, and promotion of income-generating activities through better
access to credit and technical assistance.
The driver in the Peru projects was the idea that rural development should be led
by local people. The aim was to foster development by making local institutions and
communities responsible for decisions on project funds and implementation. Early
on, projects moved from a supply-based system of technical assistance to a demand-
driven approach, whereby funds were transferred directly to the communities,
enabling them to contract services provided by local technical experts, the so-called
“rural talents”. These rural talents are locally trained and speak the local languages,
and combine their technical skills with local knowledge. This approach has been at
the core of the IFAD-supported projects in Peru, empowering local organizations and
communities by giving them decision-making power and fostering the development
of a market for local service providers to meet their demand.
In 1995, the Management of Natural Resources in the Southern Highlands
Project (MARENASS) introduced a public competition system, known as Pacha
Mama Raymi. The competitions would become the cornerstone of every project
in Peru and have replaced the long-standing practice of providing resources based
on plans developed by outsiders. Through this mechanism, local farmers and
organizations present investment proposals and compete for financial resources.
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An independent jury awards funds to groups with the best proposals. The winners
receive cash awards, which are transferred to them directly, allowing them to manage
the funds and contract the technical services they need. Participants are required
to also invest their own resources, which builds both commitment and ownership
among the winning groups. Community members, especially women, are also given
support to obtain identity cards, register their businesses, and get access to financial
services such as savings accounts.
Building on these successes, the Puno-Cusco Corridor Project (CORREDOR) in
1998 introduced a new mechanism to transfer public funds to the communities,
known as local resource allocation committees (LRACs). The LRACs are composed
of respected community members such as local professionals, teachers, mayors and
local leaders, and they review and select the proposals that are to receive funds,
ensuring transparency and accountability in the process.
Based on the lessons of the earlier projects, IFAD and the Government of Peru
designed the Strengthening Assets, Markets and Rural Development Policies in
the Northern Highlands Project (Sierra Norte) to reach more than 20,000 farming
households in the four regions of Amazonas, Cajamarca, La Libertad and Lambayeque.
The project focused on valuing, protecting and enhancing the natural resources
and the cultural heritage of poor rural families, developing business initiatives and
opening new markets for entrepreneurial activities. It involved elderly people, children
and adolescents from the communities, and supported families as they worked to
improve their livelihoods – building on traditional knowledge and products with
high social, cultural and nutritional value. To this end, the project strengthened local
institutions and community organizations to provide better services and support local
rural development and economic growth.
As in the rest of the Peru country programme, community competitions were a key
feature of the project, with families and organizations preparing proposals for initiatives
to manage and protect natural resources and other community assets and plans for
business development, indicating the technical assistance they would need. LRACs were
set up and tasked to review the investment proposals and award funds. Communities
were trained in developing business plans and received support in opening bank accounts
where the funds would be deposited. Winners were offered exchange visits in other
communities operating in similar agroecological areas, or facing similar development
issues. Through this approach, the competitions have allowed for sharing and replication
of knowledge and techniques that have achieved significant economic and social impact.
ResultsPoverty in Peru is concentrated in the Sierra region, where rural poverty rates are
considerably higher than in the rest of the country. The project contributed to a
significant reduction in poverty: extreme poverty rates dropped by 24.5 per cent in the
project area between 2010 and 2015. Child malnutrition was reduced by 6.5 per cent
in the same period, while the average household income increased by 80 per cent.
Local communities took charge of their own development
The results of Sierra Norte were achieved primarily through the direct involvement of
local communities in all levels of decision-making. In this sense, the project played a
29
facilitating role, with community members making decisions on the management of
resources and leading in the design of business initiatives.
The competitions were a mechanism through which public funding was transferred
directly to poor farmers, who could use these resources to contract technical assistance.
They fostered collaboration among peers and transfer of knowledge and practices,
which in turn led to better results for the community as a whole. At the same time,
the LRACs ensured that proposals were evaluated in a transparent way.
This approach led to higher participation by local families in community
organizations. In fact, the number of community organizations, such as agricultural
and livestock producers’ organizations, increased by 81.5 per cent during the project
period. Women also became more active in their communities. In total, 339 women’s
organizations participated in training activities on business development and
entrepreneurship during the project. Women learned how to formulate proposals
using simple business formats and took part in exchange visits that stimulated new
business ideas. With their newly acquired knowledge and strengthened self-esteem,
women assumed leadership roles in local organizations and more than 330 women
became leaders of community organizations in the project period.
Improved quality of agricultural land led to increased production
The project built irrigation infrastructure for smallholders in the sierra and in the
forests, which helped improve water management, and restored soil quality for
agricultural use. Families and communities built more than 1,200 water reservoirs
that they used to increase the production of vegetables in their gardens and to improve
the quality of pastures. Communities also complemented their existing agricultural
practices with new fertilizer production techniques, allowing them to diversify their
crops and improve food security.
Community committees prepared more than 200 natural resource management
plans based on maps of local assets identified by families and building on local
knowledge. Asset maps identified social, cultural, environmental and productive
assets, including ancestral products that had been forgotten or replaced by imported
products. The plans led to improvement of 11,980 hectares of agricultural land
through reforestation and sustainable land and forest management practices. These
improved practices were adopted by the local communities based on knowledge
shared through the competitions, as well as farmer-to-farmer training workshops.
Supporting local markets for technical assistance stimulated the economy
With the funds from the competitions, small-scale producers and entrepreneurs
were able to contract technical assistance to improve production, marketing and
management of their enterprises. By the end of the project, 768 organizations
were executing business plans. This approach stimulated demand for and supply
of technical assistance and expanded local markets for such services, leading to
new employment opportunities. More than 1,600 technical service providers were
hired by local organizations during the project period, and provided assistance in
areas such as processing and marketing of agricultural and forest products, livestock
production, management of orchards, textile production and housing improvement.
IFAD Results Series Issue 2
30
Challenges and solutions IFAD’s long engagement in Peru and its overall programme approach, which tested
innovations and consistently learned from previous projects, meant that many
of the risks were known and could be addressed at the outset of a new project.
However, Sierra Norte was implemented in the northern highlands, not in the south
of the country where most of IFAD’s past projects had been located. The different
regional and cultural context posed some challenges. Andean communities and their
organizations in the southern highlands play a major role in local development and
have acted as an important conduit for project implementation. However, in the
north there were far fewer community organizations, which meant that the project
turned to municipalities and the private sector for support.
Given the weak local institutions in the area and their limited capacity to
coordinate and implement local development policies, the project provided support
and training to local governments. Municipality staff were trained in how to plan
local investments and leverage resources from the central and regional governments
and the importance of developing public-private partnerships to improve the business
environment and collaborate on providing public services and infrastructure. A key
part of the training dealt with changing the mind-set, moving towards valuing and
integrating the opinions and experiences of the communities.
Scaling up IFAD’s country programme in Peru has followed a clear approach to testing and scaling
up innovations. Over time, projects have identified and developed innovations, and
then tested, fine-tuned and mainstreamed them in public policies and investments.
The Pacha Mama Raymi public competitions methodology was introduced by
IFAD in the MARENASS project and has been used by all subsequent projects. The
mechanism has also been adopted by the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture and its
implementing agency, AGRORURAL, and is used by local NGOs as well.
Pacha Mama Raymi sparked other innovations, such as mechanisms to transfer
public funds directly to community organizations, the LRACs, the development of
local markets for technical assistance providers, and the promotion of citizenship
rights. These innovations have also been scaled up by the government as well as other
donor agencies. The World Bank has introduced the competitions and used the LRACs
for selecting winning proposals in its Sierra Rural Development Project (ALIADOS).
In 2009, the Government of Peru introduced the Law to Support Productive
Competition (Ley ProCompite), which allows municipalities to allocate resources
through the competitions and the LRACs to investment projects without having to go
through the national public investment system. In 2015, the Ministry of Agriculture
approved a strategy for the promotion and management of rural talents for family
farming, known as the National School of Rural Talents. The strategy emphasizes the
importance of local and traditional knowledge.
Learning has been instrumental to the scaling up experience in Peru. Projects
have consistently learned from previous projects and have adjusted and enhanced
innovations based on the experience and suggestions from the communities themselves.
Learning routes, a methodology developed by the Chile-based organization Procasur
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with IFAD support, have been one of the main vehicles for this in-depth learning
and knowledge exchange about innovations emerging in the country programme – in
Peru, the region and globally. Procasur has been able to scale up learning routes across
Latin America, as well as in Asia, Africa and Europe.
Main lessonsIFAD’s experience in Peru provides a number of lessons which are of value not only
to the Peru country programme, but also in other development contexts in the region
and beyond.
• A demand-driven approach empowers rural communities. Recognizing the central
role of the communities and handing over decision-making power to families
and their organizations has been the key to success in the Peru country
programme. Through the public competitions, families and community
organizations have come up with appropriate solutions for local development
in a transparent way that has fostered collaboration and knowledge-sharing.
Funds have been transferred directly to the communities, enabling them to
contract the technical services they needed. This approach has both reduced
poverty and empowered the communities, creating a sense of responsibility
and ownership. Local areas have been transformed based on their aspirations
and expectations. It has also stimulated the development of a market for local
service providers based on the demands from the communities themselves.
• Learning and knowledge-sharing promote sustainability and scaling up. The projects
in Peru have fostered a culture of “learning by doing”. Lessons have consistently
been drawn from past experience to inform the development of new projects,
resulting in a long list of tested innovations that have been applied in the
country programme and beyond. In addition, the country team has valued and
built upon local knowledge and culture, and has supported the exchange of
experience and knowledge among farmers through the competitions, farmer-to-
farmer training, and by using the “rural talents” as technical service providers.
The learning route methodology was another way of sharing innovations and
ensured that successful experiences were replicated across rural communities.
Moreover, projects have remained flexible and have adjusted activities and
innovations based on the experience and suggestions from local communities.
• Community empowerment requires a holistic approach. Involving the communities
in decision-making and allowing them to take charge of their own development
required considerable support. The key mechanism of transferring funds
directly to the communities through competitions was supported by the
training of farmers to develop proposals for the competitions, and support in
developing business plans and opening bank accounts where the funds would
be deposited. It also included support in contracting technical assistance
for the implementation of the initiatives, including legal support to obtain
identity documents and formally registering businesses in order to sign the
contracts that are required for the funds to be disbursed. These complementary
steps responded directly to the needs of the communities and enabled families
to participate in and take full advantage of project benefits.
IFAD Results Series Issue 2
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ConclusionSierra Norte was the first project to be implemented in the northern highlands. The
project built on IFAD’s long experience in Peru and a systematic approach that had
been developed in an interconnected chain of projects over the past two decades. At
the heart of this approach was the idea that poor rural families should be in charge
of their own development. Through a number of innovative mechanisms, decision-
making power was handed over to local families and funds were transferred directly
to community groups to implement the projects that they preferred. Over the years,
these innovations have reduced poverty and empowered communities, and local areas
have been transformed. Local families have been enabled to improve their livelihoods
and obtain citizenship rights. Collaboration and exchange of knowledge among
communities have been at the core of the projects, and have ensured that successful
experiences were replicated in other rural communities in the highlands. These
innovations have also been adopted by the government and donor organizations
and are now considered as part of the national strategy to fight rural poverty.
ReferencesHartmann, A., H. Kharas, R. Kohl, J. Linn, B. Massler, and C. Sourang, 2013.
Scaling Up Programs for the Rural Poor: IFAD’s Experience, Lessons and
Prospects (Phase 2). Global Economy and Development, Working Paper 54.
Brookings Institution.
IFAD, 2004. Innovative Experiences of IFAD Projects in Peru. Independent Office of
Evaluation, IFAD.
IFAD, 2007. Strengthening Assets, Markets and Rural Development Policies in the
Northern Highlands (Sierra Norte). Project appraisal document. IFAD.
IFAD, 2009. Republic of Peru. Country Strategic Opportunities Programme. IFAD.
IFAD, 2013. IFAD’s Supervision and Implementation Support Policy. Corporate
Level Evaluation. Independent Office of Evaluation, IFAD.
IFAD, 2013. The Importance of Scaling Up for Agricultural and Rural Development.
And a Success Story from Peru. IFAD Occasional Paper 4. IFAD.
IFAD, 2015. Peru. Scaling Up Note. IFAD.
IFAD, 2016. Evaluación de los efectos e impactos del proyecto “fortalecimiento de
los activos, mercados y políticas de desarrollo rural de la sierra norte”. Informe
Final de Resultados. IFAD.
Massler, B., 2012. Scaling Up of IFAD Programs in Peru. Background Paper to
Scaling up Programs for the Rural Poor: IFAD’s Experience, Lessons and
Prospects (Phase 2). Draft.
World Bank, 2017. Peru. Systematic Country Diagnostic. World Bank Group,
Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela Country Management Unit.
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Sierra Leone: Agile and adaptive project supports post-conflict rehabilitation
In the east of Sierra Leone, this IFAD-supported project rehabilitated
plantations and roads to improve the well-being of poor rural households
following the country’s civil war. The project created employment for young
people, and contributed to improved food security and higher incomes in
communities devastated by the conflict.
Before the outbreak of Ebola in 2014, Sierra Leone had one
of the highest economic growth rates in the world. It was well
on the road to recovery from a decade-long conflict and was
moving towards becoming a middle-income country. During the country’s
civil war (1991-2002), the eastern districts of the country were particularly
affected, suffering widespread destruction and displaced communities.
©IF
AD
/Sar
ah M
orga
n
Rehabilitation and Community-based Poverty Reduction Project
Total project cost: US$52.8 million
Total IFAD financing: US$43.0 million
IFAD loan: US$25.8 million
DSF grant: US$17.2 million
Duration: 2004-2017
Directly benefiting: 24,920 households
Cofinanciers: Global Environmental Facility: US$2.6 million
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IFAD Results Series Issue 2
Rural areas were abandoned, villages burned and looted, with farmland reverting
to bush, mangroves and forest. The damage to roads left rural areas disconnected.
During this period, 82 per cent of the population lived below the poverty line and
life expectancy was just 38 years (UNDP, 2002). Sierra Leone had the lowest Human
Development Index in the world in 2002. Women and young people were the most
affected by the conflict.
With the assistance of the international community, including IFAD, the
Government of Sierra Leone put in place a National Recovery Strategy to rebuild
its economy and foster reconciliation after peace was declared in 2002. Although a
return to conflict was a real threat, a combination of new policies and reforms and
a boom in the mining sector spurred recovery efforts. However, the Ebola outbreak
and falling commodity prices stymied the country’s development. Today, rural
poverty and high youth unemployment are widespread and the country remains in
a fragile situation.
The projectThe IFAD-supported Rehabilitation and Community-based Poverty Reduction
Project (RCPRP) was launched in 2003 to improve the livelihoods of the most
vulnerable households in two rural districts of east Sierra Leone most affected by
the civil war, Kailahun and Kono.
The project focused on rehabilitation of farmland and infrastructure, and
on meeting the immediate needs of the local communities, particularly poor
smallholders, by providing a range of basic packages, such as seeds and tools to
improve agricultural production and food security. This approach was designed to
reduce possible tensions over resources and economic opportunities as internally
displaced people and ex-combatants returned to the project districts.
In 2010, the project was redesigned in order to support a longer-term approach
to community rehabilitation and sustainable economic development, in line with
the Government of Sierra Leone’s development strategy. The project also expanded
into an additional two districts, Kenema and Koinadugu. Resources were directed
towards initiatives designed to improve access to food, and provide opportunities
for employment and increased incomes by focusing on infrastructure development,
road and land rehabilitation, and community development. Plantations of tree
crops, such as cocoa and palm oil, were rehabilitated. Inland valley swamp areas that
had been destroyed or had become overgrown during the conflict were cultivated
and irrigated by local youth contractors for agricultural use. Damaged roads were
rebuilt, enabling villagers and farmers to more easily reach markets and other social
services, and provisions were made for the establishment of road maintenance units
across the country.
The project also provided support to the decentralization of government
responsibilities to local administrations by building ward offices, providing training
in skills such as financial management, and improving HIV awareness. In addition,
district youth centres were built and equipped to train young people in business
skills, such as how to prepare basic business plans, providing much-needed support
at a time when 60 per cent of youth were unemployed or underemployed.
35
The project worked with rural communities that were highly dependent on
rainfed agriculture and therefore vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Using
additional funding from the Global Environment Facility, the project created a
network of weather stations, trained farmers in alternatives to “slash-and-burn”
practices and improved water management in inland valley swamps, helping them
to adapt to the increasingly unpredictable wet and dry seasons.
ResultsThe RCPRP helped communities to rehabilitate and return to their plantations,
and supported the Government of Sierra Leone in creating sustainable economic
development in communities most affected by conflict. Food security was improved
and incomes were increased.
More productive cropping on rehabilitated lands significantly increased
farmers’ incomes
The RCPRP rehabilitated 9,000 hectares of tree crops and provided training in cocoa
production to 4,500 farming households. As a result, cocoa yields increased and
farming households were able to increase their incomes. The improvement in crop
quality and output, along with rising world prices for cocoa, meant that farmers
were able to negotiate higher market prices for their crops. The environmentally
sustainable methods used to rehabilitate the farmland further ensured that yields
and income were relatively high and reduced reliance upon slash-and-burn
farming methods.
Similarly, just under 3,000 hectares of inland valley swampland was restored,
enabling about 8,700 farmers to grow rice and vegetables more productively. The
introduction of new climate-adaptive rice varieties, and new planting and soil
management techniques, enabled farmers to produce multiple crops annually,
leading to significantly improved rice yields and doubling farmers’ incomes. Farmers
in the drier upland areas reported double and triple cropping of rice following
training in building earth dams and collecting water for use on their crops during
the dry season. These new activities were introduced to the project to scale up
climate-smart approaches using funds from the Global Environment Facility, and
as a result farmers were able to increase their yield and number of harvests in a
year, raising their incomes and combating the adverse effects of climate change on
their livelihoods.
Capacity-building raised government awareness and responsiveness to
climate change
Being able to respond to climate change requires accurate national weather data and
natural disaster records, which were missing from the government’s meteorological
services. The project worked with government and communities to rebuild weather
stations and train government staff in statistics and climatology, resulting in
improved capacity and responsiveness in forecasting dangerous or extreme weather
events, and building awareness of climate change at the institutional level.
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IFAD Results Series Issue 2
Road reconstruction generated employment for youth and reconnected
rural communities
More than 700 young people were trained and employed to rebuild almost 1,300 km
of damaged roads, and to rehabilitate swampland and tree plantations under a pilot
“youth contractor strategy”. The young people can now use their skills and experience
to seek employment in other parts of the country where roads and land are being
rehabilitated. The project made a significant contribution to the rehabilitation of
the damaged road network, thus reconnecting isolated rural communities, allowing
farmers to take produce to market, lowering transportation times and costs, and
reducing the loss of fresh produce.
Simple, practical tools empowered women and young people to participate in
the workforce
The project worked at the household level to ensure that both women and men
benefited equitably. The Gender Action Learning System (GALS) methodology
was introduced, and simple, visual teaching tools and practical activities were
used in households to help bring about positive changes in family and working
relationships that were inclusive of women and men. Topics included household
financial planning, methods of improving food security, and learning to negotiate
workloads and decision-making. This resulted in an awareness of gender inequalities
in households, farmers’ groups, communities and local institutions, and empowered
women, youth and men to make significant life choices. These activities led to a
different sharing of power between women and men at the household level, and a
fairer sharing of workload and incomes through women’s increased participation in
the workforce. The learning system improved communication in the home, which
women reported reduced or ended domestic violence. This increased awareness
also empowered women and youth to speak out in community meetings and to be
supported in doing so by their families.
Challenges and solutions Progress was slow in the first three years of RCPRP, as the project sought to tackle
the many different needs in the immediate post-conflict period and respond to the
challenges of coordinating a complex programme being implemented by multiple
partners. Consequently, IFAD decided to refocus project activities on long-term
rehabilitation, and to decentralize part of the project administration by locating
some coordinating offices in districts where the project activities were taking place.
With additional IFAD funding, the pace of rehabilitation of infrastructure and
plantations was increased, and activities were expanded into two additional districts.
In 2014, the Ebola epidemic spread to Sierra Leone, causing its economy to
slump, at a time when lower world commodity prices were slowing economic
development. This presented a unique challenge for the RCPRP team. When the
Ebola epidemic reached Sierra Leone, it affected rural areas first, acutely affecting
farmers before quickly spreading to urban areas. Bans on group labour and the weekly
markets where agricultural produce was traded, and restrictions on movement from
one community to another to stop the spread of the disease, brought unintended
37
consequences in the agriculture sector. Crop yields began to drop, particularly in the
inland valley swamp areas, meaning farmers saw their incomes fall and food security
reduced. RCPRP staff were not able to access many districts to supervise activities
and provide support, slowing down the progress of project activities.
In response to the challenges this presented, IFAD collaborated with the
United Nations Children’s Fund, FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Food Security to reach out to farming households to warn of the dangers of the
disease and to provide preventative care products. RCPRP connected with another
IFAD-supported project to use community facilities, such as rural financial
institutions, as centres for distribution of preventative care products, including
buckets and soap for deep cleaning, and for raising awareness and providing
training on actions to prevent the disease from spreading. Where possible, RCPRP
kept its team operational, and in some instances conducted missions remotely by
hiring local contractors when access to programme districts was not possible. IFAD
extended the programme by one year at the request of the government to enable
RCPRP to complete its mission and continue providing support following the crisis.
Scaling up Agriculture is at the centre of the government for Sierra Leone’s strategy for socio-
economic growth and development. To support growth in the sector, successful
elements of the RCPRP have been scaled up into the US$50 million, multi-donor,
nationwide Smallholder Commercialization Programme – Global Agriculture
and Food Security Programme. This programme is financed in conjunction with
the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, supervised by IFAD and
implemented by FAO.
Beginning in 2011, this nationwide programme scaled up many of the activities
from RCPRP. The tree crop and inland valley swamp rehabilitation activities of the
RCPRP were expanded nationwide to improve smallholder food security across
Sierra Leone. The youth contractor strategy, which RCPRP piloted, is again being
used to increase youth employment, this time with additional farming equipment
provided to increase the area of land each contractor can rehabilitate. The scaled-up
programme also continues RCPRP’s support for the government’s decentralization
process by building capacity for the district authorities across Sierra Leone. The
Gender Action Learning System has been scaled up by the Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry and Food Security nationwide, and has since been used in other IFAD
projects in neighbouring countries. It has also been adopted as a method for
empowering teachers at local universities and by private-sector cocoa exporters
looking to introduce the learning system to their cocoa suppliers.
A concept for decentralized road maintenance was developed by the project to
ensure the sustainability of investment in road rehabilitation. Local councils received
training and logistical support, as well as a pool of road maintenance equipment in
each district. A road maintenance fund was piloted in one district and then scaled
up in other districts with government support. A government agency, the Road
Maintenance Fund Administration, was established and now annually provides
funds to local councils for the maintenance of roads.
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IFAD Results Series Issue 2
Main lessonsThe project was successful largely because of its agility in responding to the changing
development context in Sierra Leone. Activities were reprioritized as conditions changed,
and the project focused on the building blocks of development most vital to rural
communities. It has produced many lessons about approaches to rehabilitation in post-
conflict countries that are relevant not only in Sierra Leone, but also in other countries.
• Keep the design simple, limit the number of interventions and scale up. By simplifying
the design of the programme and reducing the number of activities that it
implemented, RCPRP was able to target smallholder farmers more effectively.
Increasing funding to these fewer activities enabled the project to reach a
much wider number of people, scaling up the essential activities to have an
impact across four districts instead of two. The simplification of the design and
decentralization of the project teams allowed the project to be more agile in
responding to later challenges, including the Ebola crisis.
• Focus on rehabilitating infrastructure in the initial stages. It was not just the simpler
structure that helped RCPRP, but also the choice of activities. Prioritizing the
rehabilitation of roads from the earliest stages supports communities in the
rebuilding process, reconnects rural communities to urban areas, and allows other
programme activities to be implemented more easily. When the project began in
2003, IFAD was responding to the immediate, short-term needs of rural communities
following the end of a civil war, but by 2009 this was adjusted to focus upon
long-term rehabilitation activities that could keep pace with the fast-changing and
growing economy while providing sustainable and improved incomes.
• Engage women and men in learning activities that support farming and household
planning. Working with women and men together at the household level
positively changed their relationships and led to powerful outcomes for the
families involved. By embedding an action learning system into the project,
RCPRP was able to engage with and provide benefits to the whole community
to support families to take full advantage of the RCPRP activities and feel
ownership of their participation. The action learning system spread significant
improvements in gender awareness across households, communities and
institutions to change gender roles, traditions and culture.
• Employing local youth in project activities built technical expertise. Using a youth
contractor strategy enabled RCPRP to not only meet its goal to rehabilitate
farmland to improve food security and incomes, it also contributed to reducing
rural youth unemployment in the project districts. The training itself enabled
young people to seek further employment using these skills. However, the
challenge is to provide long-term opportunities by improving access to finance
and markets for their own business initiatives.
• Integrate activities to build climate resilience into project design. Introducing
climate-smart activities underlined the importance of building climate-smart
projects. These activities improved the rehabilitation process by introducing new
farming methods, products and training, bringing awareness of environmental
sustainability issues into almost all areas of RCPRP. This underlines the ability
and importance of making programmes that are both effective in reducing rural
poverty and environmentally sustainable.
39
ConclusionThe RCPRP was a complex project, but its agility in adapting to changing
circumstances and conditions in Sierra Leone meant that it was able to respond to
new priorities as they emerged. It introduced some innovative solutions that have
now been taken up by the government, for example, the approach to decentralized
road maintenance, which has contributed to sustaining the considerable investment
in rehabilitation of the devastated road network. The project’s initial focus on
meeting urgent food security needs and providing immediate relief to farmers
evolved into streamlined, long-term post-conflict rehabilitation. RCPRP improved
food security and raised incomes by rehabilitating plantations overgrown during
conflict, providing employment opportunities for young people, and reconnecting
rural areas through a major push to rehabilitate damaged roads. It has left a legacy
of good practices and success stories.
ReferencesGALS & IFAD. GALS in Sierra Leone; An Impact Assessment, 2017.
IFAD, 2003. Report and Recommendation of the President to the Executive Board
on a Proposed Loan to the Republic of Sierra Leone for the Rehabilitation and
Community-based Poverty Reduction Project.
IFAD, 2009. Rehabilitation and Community-based Poverty Reduction Project,
Midterm Review Report.
IFAD, 2009. Rehabilitation and Community-based Poverty Reduction Project,
Aide Memoire.
IFAD, 2011. Rehabilitation and Community-based Poverty Reduction Project,
Aide Memoire.
IFAD, 2014. Case Study: Gender Action Learning System (GALS) in Ghana, Nigeria,
Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Uganda.
IFAD, 2016. Rehabilitation and Community-based Poverty Reduction Project
Supervision Report.
IFAD, 2017. Rehabilitation and Community-based Poverty Reduction Project,
Aide Memoire.
IFAD. IFAD Stories: Post-Ebola Recovery Plans Must Prioritize Rural People,
UN Agency Head to Tell Leaders in Sierra Leone and Liberia: www.ifad.org/
newsroom/press_release/tags/p47/y2016/28819921.
IFAD. Rural Transformation in Sierra Leone: Meeting the Challenges of Fragility and
Ebola: www.ifad.org/stories/tags/7311867.
IFAD & GEF, 2017. Integrating Adaption to Climate Change into Agricultural
Production and Food Security Terminal Evaluation Review.
UNDP, 2002. Human Development Report 2002. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
International Fund for Agricultural Development
Via Paolo di Dono, 44 - 00142 Rome, Italy
Tel: +39 06 54591 - Fax: +39 06 5043463
Email: [email protected]
www.ifad.org
www.ruralpovertyportal.org
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www.facebook.com/ifad
instagram.com/ifadnews
www.twitter.com/ifadnews
www.youtube.com/user/ifadTV
RESULTS FROM THE FIELD
IFAD Results Series Issue 2
IFAD invests in rural people, empowering them to reduce poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition and strengthen resilience. Since 1978, we have provided US$18.5 billion in grants and low-interest loans to projects that have reached about 464 million people. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agriculture hub.